Nearby, a second teacher, Ileana Manzano, coaches the children to
throw their arms up in the air.

Sobolewski, 27, and Manzano, 58, are a formidable pair, an alter
ego known as Mrs. Mansobo.

They write their lesson plans together, switch who acts as lead
teacher and feed off each other's energy.

Across Southwest Florida, there are only a handful of classrooms
like this one at Southside Elementary, where two teachers work side-
by-side in a single classroom. For the school, where there are no
empty classrooms, the combination takes advantage of a bigger space
to hold more students. With two teachers, a class can legally hold
up to 36 children instead of 18, according to the Florida class-
size amendment.

But for the two educators, co-teaching is about more than that.
It's a valuable partnership, almost like a marriage.